Sect Year 5 · first month · night of day 27 · the forty-first life: Coil Cove, her first year
The Tern came in to Sarn with the last of the light, and the whole quay turned out to watch her. Lin stood at the rail with his coat buttoned to the throat and watched the town rise out of the dusk. A row of tall grey houses above the harbour wall, stone steps climbing from the water, and at the head of the quay a square lodge with its shutters painted the colour of tar.
Gulls lifted off the wooden support posts as the lines went over. The sails came down, the gangway went out, and the planks rang under the first feet with a sound that had not changed in twenty-six days.
Su came to the top of the gangway with the record box under one arm and her shawl pulled tight. She stood there while the first passengers went down, and she read the count aloud. She didn’t raise her voice. She said it so that the men on the quay would hear it and know it was meant for them.
“Twenty-six days,” said Su. “No one lost.”
